A restaurant online ordering platform can greatly increase your restaurant’s revenue by making it quick and convenient for customers to place orders. Setting up an online ordering platform will involve many facets of your business including marketing, operations and legal.
Your marketing team will be key to planning and implementing your online ordering platform. You’ve put a lot of time and money into branding, so along with a look that is consistent with your website, you’ll want to keep the same brand messaging that you’ve already become known for.
Knowing your customer and how your restaurant operates is another challenge to building a successful system. You’ll want to be sure the online program works seamlessly with your current order system. This means keeping an eye on the details. For example, are all of your products and combos named or packaged the same on both platforms? Your staff will also have to make adjustments as they won’t be face to face with the customer. Instead, the customer will be communicating with the site. To ensure there are no kinks in the process, you’ll have to come up with a detailed plan which includes some of the following:
An online ordering platform can get orders to your customer more quickly making for a really great restaurant experience. Today’s customer chooses to use an online ordering platform for speed and convenience. They simply want to place their order, show up, pick it up and go on with the rest of their day. Along with this, they expect that their orders will be right, the food will be hot and of course, they’ll enjoy the same great taste they’ve come to expect from your brand. To ensure customer satisfaction, you might have to make some adjustments to your process. For example, we have a few brands that are known for their hot and tasty fries. With their online ordering system, they have a policy of dropping the fries as soon as the customer gets to the restaurant. With this process, they can be sure that the french fries are warm and crisp every time. This is just one example of how adjustments are made in operations to fit an online order processing program.
The online ordering program can be tailored to fit your business. This includes the way you are charged for using the service. Ask yourself what works best for your restaurant. Would you prefer to be charged a flat monthly fee or do you think that it is more advantageous for you to pay based upon the number of orders you’ve received? Some prefer the latter because they believe it gives their online ordering provider more incentive to grow sales. Either way, this is a business contract and agreement which means you’ll be in partnership with the online ordering provider. That said, make sure your goals and mission are in alignment with the company you choose.
In summary, your entire team including marketing, operations and legal will have to work together to launch a successful online ordering platform program.